Coin by precious coin, grade school students in western Massachusetts raised more than $1,000 for the victims of last month’s earthquake in Haiti. The two-week effort, officially called Penny Wars by the Lubavitcher Yeshiva Academy in Longmeadow, saw competing classes fill jugs with pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters in an attempt to beat opposing teams according to a complex series of rules.
“It was heartwarming to see even the toddlers bringing in their pennies and distributing them in their jars,” said Julie Betancourt, a teacher at the Chabad-Lubavitch run school.
Each of the elementary school grades, as well as the institution’s preschool and kindergarten, battled to see who could amass the most pennies. Middle school students participated, as well, serving as coaches and scorekeepers.
According to the rules, each grade earned points for each of its jar’s pennies, but lost points for each nickel, dime or quarter. Students would drop pennies in their own class’ jar, but strategically placed the larger denominations in their opponents’ receptacles.
“Penny Wars created enthusiasm at LYA, and was a great way to empower students of all ages to do their part to help the Haitian people,” said Betancourt, who organized the fundraiser.
“For me, Penny Wars was important because we helped people in need with rebuilding,” said fourth-grader Esti Garfield. “We helped give them the chance to have a better life.”
All told, the fundraiser netted $1006.24 for the Chabad Haiti Relief Effort, a joint project of Chabad-Lubavitch of the Dominican Republic and Chabad of Puerto Rico that has been dispatching aid to organizations in the Haitian capital of Port au Prince. The relief fund, which has drawn the support of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief, transferred badly-needed food, water and medicine to earthquake victims in the days following the tragedy.
At LYA, the third-grade class won thanks to the last-minute donation of student Tova Granowitz, who put some $70 worth of collected pennies into her class’ jar just two minutes before the end of the competition.
But educational director Mitchell Kupperman, who matched the total of 25,100 pennies with a donation of $251, said that everyone won.
“All the students and staff,” said Kupperman, “truly worked together in a cooperative manner to help others in need and we are proud of them all.”
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